CA-NEWS Summary

Israel says 'no winds of war' despite Syria air strikes

JERUSALEM/AMMAN (Reuters) - Israel played down weekend air strikes reported to have killed dozens of Syrian soldiers close to Damascus, saying they were not aimed at influencing its neighbor's civil war but only at stopping Iranian missiles reaching Lebanese Hezbollah militants. Oil prices spiked above $105 a barrel, their highest in nearly a month, on Monday as the air strikes on Friday and Sunday prompted fears of a wider spillover of the two-year old conflict in Syria that could affect Middle East oil exports.

Pakistan election violence forces candidates behind high walls

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Mian Hussain is fighting for his political life from a deserted party headquarters, where two telephones sit silently beside him and the footsteps of a tea boy echo down the corridor. One of Pakistan's most high-profile anti-Taliban politicians, Hussain hasn't been to a single public event since campaigning for the May 11 election kicked off. A fiery orator who once electrified big rallies, he now makes short speeches by telephone to small huddles of supporters meeting in secret.

North Korea missiles moved away from launch site: U.S. officials

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea has taken two Musudan missiles off launch-ready status and moved them from their position on the country's east coast, U.S. officials told Reuters on Monday, after weeks of concern that Pyongyang was poised for a test-launch. The United States did not believe the missiles were moved to an alternate launch site and were instead in a non-operational location, one of the U.S. officials said. The official did not elaborate.

At least 20 dead in Islamist protests in Bangladesh

DHAKA (Reuters) - At least 20 Bangladeshis were killed on Monday in clashes between police and hardline Islamists demanding religious reforms, as violence spread beyond the capital Dhaka to other parts of the country. The clashes began on Sunday after 200,000 Islamist supporters marched in Dhaka to press demands critics said would amount to the "Talibanisation" of a country that maintains secularism as state policy, but they were met by lines of police firing teargas and rubber bullets.

Iran presidency candidates to step forward, finally

DUBAI (Reuters) - Few Iranian presidential elections have been so unpredictable but the next few days will at least narrow down who will stand in the ballot on June 14, for which candidate registration starts on Tuesday and ends on Saturday. What is certain is that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has held ultimate power as Supreme Leader for 24 years, wants to avoid both the mass protests by reformists that greeted the disputed re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009, and also more of the public feuding between the outgoing president's allies and fellow hardliners which has marked Ahmadinejad's second term.

Bombs, mosque attack kill 17 in Iraqi capital: police

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least 17 people were killed by three bombs and a grenade attack on a mosque in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Monday, medics and police said. Unidentified assailants threw hand grenades at Sunni Muslim worshippers as they left a mosque on Monday evening, killing six people, police and medics said.

Teenager accused of lying in Boston bomb case out on bail

BOSTON (Reuters) - The teenager accused of lying to FBI agents in the Boston Marathon bombing case was freed on $100,000 bail on Monday pending a later trial date, and investigators said bomb fragments suggest they were less sophisticated than homemade ones used by insurgents. While out on bail, Robel Phillipos will be under the custody of his mother and must wear a GPS bracelet, U.S. Magistrate Judge Marianne Bowler ordered in federal court in Boston. The $100,000 bail for the 19-year-old was secured by real estate put up by a third party, the judge said.

Bahraini lawmakers call on U.S. envoy to end "interference"

DUBAI (Reuters) - Bahraini lawmakers have urged the government to stop the U.S. ambassador in Bahrain from "interfering in domestic affairs" and meeting government opponents, newspaper reports and a lawmaker in the U.S.-allied Gulf state said on Monday. The reports said the government had agreed to the proposal and would take diplomatic measures, but it was not immediately clear what those steps would entail.

New jihadi magazine appeals for help against drones

LONDON (Reuters) - A new jihadi magazine set up by militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan has appealed to Muslims around the world to come up with technology to hack into or manipulate drones, describing this as one of their most important priorities. The first issue of the English-language online magazine, called "Azan", was published on May 5, the SITE intelligence monitoring group said. It compared Azan to "Inspire" magazine, set up by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

Russian opposition struggles to revive anti-Putin protests

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Thousands of Russians demanded an end to President Vladimir Putin's long rule and said they would not let him "turn the country into another Gulag" at a rally on Monday intended to revive a flagging protest movement. But many Russians are frustrated by the opposition's failure to turn big rallies last year into a sustained challenge to Putin, and the joyous mood of the initial protests has given way to a subdued realization that his grip on power has tightened.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ca-news-summary-010301884.html

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